Golden Boy Promotions co-Founder & President OSCAR DE LA HOYA sat for a Q&A with Robert Morales of the Long Beach PRESS-TELEGRAM, discussing the recent resignation of CEO RICHARD SCHAEFER, among other topics. Excerpts of the Q&A are below.
Q: Word has it that you were surprised that Richard Schaefer left. But amid all the rumors, you could not have been completely surprised, could you?
De La Hoya: I was very surprised. ... The boxing world is a small world -- and so I started to hear some rumblings years ago. But you don't want to believe them. Call me naive, call me innocent or whatever you want to call me, but I just didn't want to believe them.
Q: Have you started looking for a replacement, and do you plan on bringing someone in to do what Schaefer was doing?
De La Hoya: I haven’t started, I haven’t looked for anybody. ... You have all these great people that are working at Golden Boy as a team, making fights, putting the fights together, putting events together, from marketing to PR to doing the everyday legwork, I mean, we’re a team. We haven’t lost a beat, we haven’t skipped a beat. We’re moving forward.
Q: So you don’t feel the necessity to bring in someone to fill Schaefer’s shoes?
De La Hoya: I’ve been at the office every single day since way before this happened. I’ve been there taking care of business. ... I went to rehab. ... I came back. I'm ready to go.
Q: Now that you and [Top Rank Chair] BOB ARUM have mended fences, are you now hopeful you two can co-promote some big cards together?
De La Hoya: It all depends on what we can work out. I’m really looking forward to working with any promoter. Obviously Arum, because he has fighters that we can fight and build these great cards together. ... We have a few issues we have to deal with. Obviously, TV and sponsors. ... Is it impossible? Nothing's impossible.
Q: Could you ever do business with Schaefer again if he starts his own company or joins another?
De La Hoya: If it’s going to mean making the best fights for the fans, then I’m open to anything (Long Beach PRESS-TELEGRAM, 6/24).
